This is part III in this series on self sabotage and what to do about it. Please click here to read part II and click here to read part 1.

Self sabotage is unfortunately the reason why many people can’t treat themselves well enough to stay healthy. Keeping healthy is tied directly to our weight because the foods that hurt our health also make us pack on the pounds. Self sabotage is learned behaviour and it becomes automatic in regards to certain cues we see in our life.

Self sabotage is most often a reaction to any activity where self improvement will be the result. Once a self improvement journey hits a time duration where the new “better” lifestyle may become a habit or a success, the subconscious mind can become very aggressive in doing what ever it takes to drive unhealthy lifestyle choices back into our daily habits. In most cases, the part of the mind that’s conditioned to self sabotage any self improvement attempt won’t even let the owner of the body get such an attempt started. Excuses about costs, permissions required from a spouse, time constraints etc usually kill the self improvement drive before it ever begins.

That’s the first line of defence against self improvement……….the excuses. For people who actually take action and get around the excuses………..they’ll be exposed to several other lines of defence the subconscious mind has in regards to making sure self improvement is avoided at all costs.

Think about it like this. I was just taking a self defence course last night and during that class the instructor tried to slap me in the face. To my surprise my hand came up as quick as lighting and blocked his hand before it hit my face. I was shocked how quick it happened. I did not even try to raise my hand, it just happened. The instructor explained that this was indeed the lesson to be taken away from such a demonstration. There’s a part of the mind that takes care of this function and it does so because we can’t tell ours minds fast enough to raise our hands to block an incoming attack. That part of the mind is in charge of everything automatic and sort of thinks on its’ own, filling in the blanks and makes many decisions without our input or knowledge that it’s even occurring. It’s like an invisible brain we don’t even know we have. It made sense because I had no idea I could block a slap that fast. The reaction was automatic and beyond my control. That’s important when it comes to talking about self sabotage.

Think about self sabotage as being automatic and beyond our control. (beyond our control for now). Self sabotage needs to be first observed and recognized before it can be conquered and reversed. That’s always the first step. Learning to see it and then once you can see it, you can start to control the self sabotaging behaviour patterns. Just like my hand protecting my face from an assailant’s attack, self sabotage is an “action/reaction” situation. The action is usually any act that will end in self improvement and the reaction is to seek out the lifestyles, acquaintances, support structures and habits that ensure our self improvement attempt fails. This again is automatic, with nothing really to see other than the self sabotaging behaviour as the only visual cue that all this is already happening inside the mind.

Think about self sabotage as just like a crime scene. The first thing you see is the end result (the crime scene) and then you have to work backwards to find out more about what happened and why it happened. When you see 5 pieces of home equipment in your garage that you never used or $4000 missing from your disposable income because you joined 3 separate weight loss programs that calendar year (but you’re heavier now than when you started)……….that’s the scene of the crime and that’s where your investigation starts.

With self sabotage all we would see is the “reaction” because many just can’t believe there’s a part of the mind that can be programmed to stop us from becoming better versions of ourselves.  Diet success has nothing to do with self sabotage but putting all the weight back on after a successful diet has everything to do with self sabotage. Look for patterns where attempts at betterment are initiated and the same results occurs, in regards to success never materializing long term.

The great thing about self sabotage is that once you can see it then you can start doing something about it. After we recognize the patterns, it’s time to start learning how the mind got programmed to operate like that in the first place. Again, self sabotage is learned behaviour. Looking at the forces involved with self sabotage can be blinding and this is where you will need to be your most brave. Frankly, if you knew who programmed you to do this (at this point in the series) you most likely wouldn’t even believe it.

That is where we end for today. Your exercise for today is to look for patterns of self sabotage and understand that self sabotage is nothing more than an attack on self and attacking one self can take on many forms. That’s where the next part of the series will begin. Any questions……….feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]